As the electronics industry continues to progress, higher bandwidth communication is needed to satisfy the requirements of consumer applications. For example, in imaging applications higher bandwidth affords improved imaging resolution. Inevitably, to meet this demand for bandwidth, front-end radio circuits have to operate at increasingly higher frequencies.
However, implementing transceivers capable of operating at sufficient frequencies, for example greater than 100 GHz, comes at the expense of cost and size. Specifically, implementing a radio with a sufficiently high frequency would require implementation of tubes, laser or expensive III-IV semiconductors.
Accordingly, it will be appreciated that there is a need for a “system-on-chip” (SOC) design for a radio circuit capable of operating at frequencies greater than 100 GHz.